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The winners were announced at a special briefing by Presidential Aide Andrei Fursenko and member of the Presidential Council for Culture and the Arts Presidium and Presidential Adviser Vladimir Tolstoy.

As per tradition, the President will present the National Awards on Russia Day, which is celebrated on June 12.

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The 2018 National Award in science and technology has been awarded to Valery MITROFANOV, Vladislav PUSTOVOIT and Yefim KHAZANOV for establishing the fundamental principles and instrumental solutions to solve problems in the registration of gravitational waves.

Valery Mitrofanov was born on October 11, 1947 in Ivanovo. He has a DSc in Physics and Mathematics and works as a professor with the Department of Physics of Vibrations at the Radio Physics and Electronics section of the Physics Faculty at Lomonosov Moscow State University.

Vladislav Pustovoit was born on November 15, 1936 in Berdyansk. He has a DSc in Physics and Mathematics, is a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Head of Research at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Science and Technological Centre of Unique Instrument Engineering.

Yefim Khazanov was born on November 12, 1965 in Gorky, now Nizhny Novgorod. He has a DSc in Physics and Mathematics, is an associate member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Deputy Head of Research at the Federal Research Centre Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The researchers proposed high-priority fundamental ideas and implemented a number of instrumental solutions making it possible to directly record gravitational waves for the first time in history. In 1962, Vladislav Pustovoit became the first scientist to suggest using a method for recording gravitational waves that was based on interferometry of laser beams and Michelson-type interferometers. Years later, this method was “rediscovered” by Western scientists and became the main element of the structure of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the United States. In 2016, its experts discovered gravitational waves and received the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics. Today, Mr Pustovoit’s priority is recognised all over the world, including by the LIGO collaboration.

Mr Mitrofanov made a substantial contribution to implementing the entire LIGO project. A number of problems linked with principled antenna sensitivity restrictions were solved, and unique monolithic suspensions of the quartz test masses for gravitational wave detectors with extremely low energy dissipation levels were developed.

Mr Khazanov developed unique optical insulators capable of operating in a vacuum and in conditions of highly powerful laser radiation. The use of these insulators at the LIGO facility contributed greatly to the entire experiment’s success.

The 2018 National Award in science and technology has been awarded to Vladimir PORKHANOV, Vladimir PARSHIN and Vladimir KHARCHENKO for substantiating a new concept to reduce morbidity and mortality in patients with tracheal stenosis and introducing it into clinical practice.

Vladimir Porkhanov was born on April 25, 1947 in Krasnodar. He has a DSc in Medicine, is a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Head Physician of the Research and Development Institute – Regional Clinical Hospital No. 1 n.a. Professor Ochapovsky, Healthcare Ministry of the Krasnodar Territory.

Vladimir Parshin was born on November 6, 1959 in Moscow. He has a DSc in Medicine, is an associate member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and heads the Thorax Surgery Department at Sechenov Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University) of the Russian Federation Healthcare Ministry.

Vladimir Kharchenko was born on August 18, 1934 in the village of Tavricheskoye in the Crimean Region. He has a DSc in Medicine, is a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Head of Research at the Russian Research Centre of X-Ray Radiology of the Russian Federation Healthcare Ministry.

The research team has developed a new concept for treating patients with life-threateningtracheal diseases that makes it possible to save the lives of many patients. Their new methods have been tested at leading Russian medical institutions, proving their credibility.

Mr Porkhanov’s research made a substantial contribution to developing new types of tracheal surgery techniques. He supervised and was directly involved in unique reconstructive surgeries and the creation of the nano-composite trachea, esophagus and diaphragm.

Mr Parshin co-authored reconstructive trachea surgical techniques. He performed the first ever successful transplantation of a thyroid-tracheal complex with retained blood circulation. He developed an artificial trachea using modern regenerative methods and used it in clinical practice and also compiled protocols for treating patients with trachea transplants.

Mr Kharchenko conducted in-depth research of and described pathogenesis mechanisms, as well as surgical methods for treating tracheal diseases. He also developed a programme for treating scar tissue tracheal stenosis conditions and introduced it in clinical practice.

The 2018 Russian Federation National Award in science and technology has been awarded to Vitaly NAUMKIN for an outstanding contribution to Oriental studies (Arab and Islamic studies).

Vitaly Naumkin was born on May 21, 1945, in Sverdlovsk. He is Doctor of History, member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), and Academic Director of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Oriental Studies.

Vitaly Naumkin’s research has made a considerable contribution to social and humanitarian studies, in particular Russian Oriental studies and primarily Arab, Islamic and Semitic studies. His numerous works published in Russian, Arabic, English and other languages in Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom and other European countries, as well as in a number of Middle Eastern countries, has brought him wide international acclaim as one of the leading experts on the Arab world, Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Vitaly Naumkin is well known in Russia and abroad as a researcher of the Arabic and Soqotri languages. He has collected and translated into Russian a large number of Soqotri texts, supplying them with profound and interesting commentaries on the everyday, political and religious life of the Soqotris. As a result, Russian readers have received an opportunity to delve into this exotic and remote life, see the world through the eyes of people belonging to a different culture, and gain an insight into the Soqotris’ spiritual values.

Mr Naumkin has discovered in the archives and introduced into academic discourse some previously unknown or little known documents that shed a new and occasionally unexpected light on past and present historical events. This penetration into the classical Arab culture, combined with a deep understanding of modern processes under way in Islamic countries, has some extremely important and interesting applications in Russian diplomacy.

Vitaly Naumkin’s academic achievements and his unique experience are indispensable in Russian foreign policy decision-making.

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The 2018 Russian Federation National Award in literature and the arts has been awarded to Pavel BASINSKY for his contribution to the development of Russian literature.

Pavel Basinsky, born on October 14, 1961 in Frolovo, Volgograd Region, is a Moscow-based fiction writer, literature scholar and critic. He holds a degree from the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute (1986).

Pavel Basinsky, PhD in Philology, is Associate Professor at the Department of Literary Skill of the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute; member of the Union of Russian Writers; jury member of Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Yasnaya Polyana literature awards.

Pavel Basinsky holds the Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation in Culture (2014); the Anti-Booker prize (1999), the Big Book prize (2010), the Golden Eagle Award, and the 2019 Nika Award for Best Screenplay for the film Story of One Appointment.

In the 40 years of his creative career, he has written about 20 books, numerous articles, reviews, and essays on modern literature.

Pavel Basinsky is one of the most striking and deep-thinking authors in modern Russian literature, a generally recognised expert in the history of Russian literature, a teacher and educator. Each of his new books – thoughtful literary studies, experimental prose, or poignant, truthful books about the classics of Russian literature, Leo Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky, shattering stereotypes – is an important phenomenon in modern Russian culture.

In his work, Pavel Basinsky revives and, in many respects, creates the literary biography genre combining great mastery, deep knowledge and an original interpretation of historical material.

Books by Pavel Basinsky are published and republished in thousands of copies, invariably making the bestseller list.

The 2018 Russian Federation National Award in literature and the arts has been awarded to Nikolai LUGANSKY for his contribution to Russian and world music.

Nikolai Lugansky was born in Moscow on April 26, 1972. In 1997 he graduated from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where his teachers were Tatyana Nikolayeva and Sergei Dorensky. Since 1998, he has taught at the Moscow Conservatory. He is a professor at the Special Piano Department under Professor Sergei Dorensky.

He is a pianist and soloist at the Moscow State Academic Philharmonic. He is also National Artist of the Russian Federation (2013) and winner of numerous professional awards and prizes.

Nikolai Lugansky is one of the most outstanding pianists of his generation and a world-class musician representing Russian art all over the world. His outstanding talent for music was displayed at an early age; at age 16, he won the 1^st All Union Competition of Young Musicians. Since then, he has performed in public over 2,300 times in 490 cities and 55 countries. He plays with the leading symphonic orchestras and performers of Russia and the world.

He has performed on the best stages of the world’s music capitals. His repertoire includes over 50 piano concertos as well as works of different styles and epochs. His recordings made in Russia, Japan, the Netherlands and France have won great critical acclaim. He has received numerous prizes.

Nikolai Lugansky regularly gives concerts in Moscow and St Petersburg, Saratov and Kazan, Vladimir and Tambov, Tomsk and Novosibirsk, as well as at Sergei Rachmaninov’s Memorial Estate in Ivanovka, Tambov Region. He has been a curator of the memorial estate for 20 years, where he gives annual charity concerts. Since 2012, he has been the Art Director of the International Rachmaninov Festival.

The 2018 Russian Federation National Award in literature and the arts has been awarded to Yelena SHATKOVSKAYA for her contribution to the preservation of Russia’s historical, cultural and natural heritage.

Yelena Shatkovskaya, born December 15, 1957 in Arkhangelsk, is Director of the Kenozersky National Park in the Arkhangelsk Region. She holds a degree from the Arkhangelsk state teacher training institute. From 1984 to 1991, she worked as researcher and Deputy Director at the Solovki State Historical, Architectural and Natural Museum-Reserve. In 1991, she was appointed Director of the Kenozersky National Park of the Russian Federation Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Yelena Shatkovskaya holds the titles of Merited Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation (2013) and Honorary resident of the Arkhangelsk Region.

Yelena Shatkovskaya is the first and only director of the Kenozersky National Park. It was through her efforts that the RSFSR Government Resolution of December 28, 1991 to establish the national park was fully implemented, making it a model site of Russia’s natural and cultural heritage.

Located in the southwestern part of the Arkhangelsk Region, the national park spans 72 km north to south at its widest, and 27 km east to west. The area contains landmarks from the Neolithic era – the Medvezhy (Bear) Island 1 and Kositsyno 2, part of the Kargopol archaeological culture (2^nd half of the 4^th millennium BC).

At the initiative of Yelena Shatkovskaya, the Kenozersky Park was included in the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) in 2004, and has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List Nominations since 2014.

The park holds more than 40 wooden architecture landmarks of the Russian North from the 18^th and early 20^th centuries, which have been restored and are accessible to residents and visitors. Yelena Shatkovskaya has organised Russia’s first team of carpenters-restorers with the skills needed to work with Arkhangelsk Region’s authentic wooden constructions.

The Kenozersky National Park is the only nature conservation facility that includes a museum, does scientific restoration of museum artefacts and pieces of cultural heritage, and implements large-scale research programmes. The collection of murals from the wooden roofs of the local chapels, formed and preserved by Yelena Shatkovskaya, is without parallel in Russia or throughout the world.

Yelena Shatkovskaya has developed and successfully implemented the concept of a “living” cultural and historical landscape: people continue to live in the national park – carriers and custodians of the traditional local culture, descendants of those who created this natural and cultural diversity. On her initiative, purposeful work has been carried out for years to preserve and revive traditional crafts, folklore traditions, assist the locals with employment, and develop the local economy.

Yelena Shatkovskaya’s contribution to the preservation of the Russian cultural and natural heritage is unequivocally recognised by professional scientific, museum and restoration communities.

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The 2018 National Award for outstanding achievements in humanitarian work has been awarded to Rodion SHCHEDRIN.

Rodion Shchedrin was born in Moscow on December 16, 1932. He graduated from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where he majored in the composition and the piano (1955). He composed seven operas, five ballets, three symphonies, 14 concertos, numerous chamber, instrumental, vocal and choral works, as well as scores for films and theatrical productions.

National Artist of the USSR, he was awarded Order for Services to the Fatherland, II degree (2007), III degree (2002) and IV degree (2012), and Order of Honour (2017). Winner of the Lenin Prize, the USSR State Prize, and the Russian Federation National Award in literature and the arts (1992) as well as numerous international music and theatre awards. He is Professor Emeritus of the Moscow Conservatory, the St Petersburg Conservatory, and the Beijing Central Conservatory. He is also an honorary member of a number of Russian and foreign academies and societies.

Rodion Shchedrin is one of the most outstanding and most often performed composers of the latter half of the 20^th century possessing a consummate command of the modern musical language. His contribution to the world culture is unique; his works are distinguished by striking artistic identity, a profound feeling of drama, brilliant wit, bold experimentation and an invariable loyalty to the Russian national tradition. Rodion Shchedrin’s creative work represents an incessant dialogue between the culture and art of the past and present times through the use of various styles and genres, epochs and names.

The life-long matrimonial and creative union of Rodion Shchedrin and Maya Plisetskaya has given the world such modern ballet masterpieces as Carmen Suite, Anna Karenina, The Seagull, and The Lady with the Lapdog.

In recent years, Rodion Shchedrin has created A Christmas Tale (2015), an opera extravaganza that is a huge success on Russian stage, The Requiem Mass and Poetoria (2018), which premiered in St Petersburg, Moscow and Tula.

Shchedrin is by right Russian music’s ambassador in the world. For over 60 years, his works have formed part of the repertoire of prominent musicians and leading orchestras. They are performed at the leading concert halls and theatres all over the world and invariably elicit an interested response both in Russia and elsewhere.